I had some new goodies installed on my R in prep for my first track day yesterday. I'd just like to give my review of each.
We'll start with the most relevant.

1) Buddy Club L bucket seat.




Absolute night and day compared to stock. I have always had problems sloshing around in the stocker so this is a definate improvement. I chose this seat because of the price primarily($470CAD) and the L sizing. Others seats I was considering were a lot more $$$. It fits like a glove and it sits low enough on the MemeryFab rails so I can maintain proper driving position and wear a helmet. The only concern I have at this point is that the harness holes are lower than my shoulders making the angle of the harness and little percarious. Perhaps a different/thinner bottom cushion would fix that. I didn't run a harness yesterday nor do I plan on it until the 6 point goes in(maybe the summertime). The non-FIA rating doesn't bother me because I'm just doing lapping days. It does not flex at all which was something I was concerned with when ordering from a catalog, however, there is some play in the rail itself. Very minor and I'm sure some tweaking would remedy it.

2) OMP hood pins





I felt these to be a must due to my cf hood. The install was done cleanly IMO and the opening and closing is totally fine. Definately worth the $50CAD.

3) Pass. airbag removal and block-off tray



I chose to remove this airbag for a minor weight reduction and the fear of it going off if I ever had an impact, God forbid. In fact, the airbag unit is quite heavy, so again, a worth while mod.

4) radio block-off



Basically a cleaner look for when I remove my stereo for a track day. The deck just pops out and my sub box, which is killer heavy, does the same.

5) Heeltoe oil pan baffles

I will get pics of these shortly. They are fairly self explainitory. Never once did my car fall out of VTEC during a corner and, coinsidently, it never burned a drop thoughout the day . The shop did it great job on the install and they look similar to AssPenny's, all painted and suck. Now I have a Mugen pan minus the vertical walls and for a LOT cheaper.

6) Cobalt GT-Sport pads and Brembo blank rotors(all around)

WOW!!!! What a difference in braking. I ran Axxis MM pads and x-drilled/slotted rotors before on the street and over time the rotors warped and there were hair line cracks on a lot of the drilled holes. I've been told that rotors that have been drilled and slotted after the fact(meaning NOT by the manufacturer) have this problem. Blanks are great and they held up well. The new pads are amazing. Great initial bite and they get better through out a run(lap 3-4 etc). Even my instructor commented on them. They haven't squealed yet which I was expecting them to do. Dusting is only minor. They held up the ENTIRE day with no signs of fading whatsoever. I also switched from Ate Superblue to Motul 5.1 which held up great as well.

6) SS clutch line

I noticed a little change in my clutch engagement. A little firmer. Nothing major. I also had the fluid flushed with normal Honda brake fluid.

Here are a few pics of the day yesterday.

My ITR


My friend Alex in action


A4 1.8T belonging to my friend Wade whom I hadn't seen for over 10 years. That was a trip seeing him there.


Nice guy up from the US.


Clean E30 M3(he served me up a good run)


The car that made us all look poor



Supercharged NSX driven by an older woman. Awesome driver (she gave the F430 a run for its money)



A quick review of my first track day. WHAT THE HELL HAVE I BEEN DOING FOR LAST 2 YEARS . One of the best days of my life and an experience I'll never forget. I plan on going out again on June 19th.

Hope my reviews are useful for future reference.

Enjoi

 

Noice g00dies and pics!

 

One question....... Did you have fun?

Car looks great. I may be in contact with you about a few things.

 

awesome

what tires were you using? did you learn a lot? my first day out I learned a lot but wish I had better tires.

and for the record, I love the GT Sports too. I dont think they have ever squealed while on the street, even when cold. and dust is hardly an issue.

 

Great choices in parts. I bet its a lot more fun on track with that bucket too!

 

 

Sweet, but that's a 360 not an F430

 

Nice...You've been bitten by the "bug" hahaha...It sucks...

You leave one track day already looking towards the next. Nice upgrades, man.
Looking forward to having you out at a definitive track day...sign up has started, by the way.

 

nice upgrade in parts. i never knew they had a buddy club L seat. the regular buddy club seats are tiny!!! anyway, lookin good..

 

Yes Dave, I had a blast. When the instructor drove my car, HOLY **** , I had no idea how much potential the R had in a track environment. He actually races a GSR so he felt right at home in my R.

I was running Toyo T1R tires in 205/50 15 size. They held up well and Jon(Big Phat R) recommended that I run them at almost max psi. Max is 50psi and I had them at 42psi. They stayed consistant throughout the with only one incident where they felt like they were breaking loose. Others had the same issue in the same corner.

The thing I need to work on are straightening out after a corner when I've got the power on. I feared that I'd hit the wall but the car should be as straight as possible when the power is on. Apparently I wasn't using the course enough. Take the corner wider and use the available road.

Things that came naturally were pitching the car for proper weight distribution and giving enough time for braking during the brake zone. Even hitting the apex wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.

The tranny is for power and brakes are for stopping. I suck at the heeltoe .

The ITR is quite forgiving but I noticed understeer quite a bit. Correct me if I'm wrong but understeer is when you have to turn the wheel a lot more than you think you would have to. Anyway, it wasn't really a big deal, just an observation.

So basically I learned a whole lot. The instructor was impressed considering it was my first time. They even put me in the B run group while all the other first timers were in C. Passing was even allowed in my group and not in the C group. I only passed once but an STi and the Ferarri passed me.

 

what kind of rail r u using for your buddyclub seat?
i am using mr. alex rail on my itr, i don't feel any play from the rail tho(maybe very minor play)

 

Glad to hear not only did you have a good time, but that you learned a lot. I've heard a lot of people just want to go "race" and not really listen to their instructors. Man I feel bad for those guys. I would just tell my student to pull into the pits and have a little talk with them.

Do me a favor, PM me so I can get your email addy. I have a few other questions for ya.

 

looks like fun.. i cant wait til my track day too

"A4 1.8T belonging to my friend Wade whom I hadn't seen for over 10 years. That was a trip seeing him there." you call THAT a friend ?? that's a stranger if you guys never seen each other for over 10 years

so that m3 was fast around the track or what?

 

ite1244: Wade was a childhood friend I suppose. Went to elementry school with him. Yes, the E30 M3 was fast. Gave me a good run and cornered very well.

rzz: I'm using the MemoryFab seat rail.

One other thing I should mention relates to shifting and the Evasive Motorsports short shifter. I bought this shifter a while ago and it was good for the street but out on the track I wish I had at least the stocker. The reach is killer and I miss shifted a couple time. Basically shifting into 4th instead of 2nd while braking and approaching a turn. I now see why ITR owners who track their cars prefer the stock shifter and sometimes upgrade to the FLP and C's or any other taller type shifter. Stubby shifters are complete *** on the track IMO .

My solution: When I ordered the oil pan baffles from Marcus @ Heeltoe I also ordered the FLP tall shifter as well. Unfortunately the shifter would not of been ready before yesterday considering shipping and such. Marcus, the super cool d00d that he is, sent out the baffles early and will be sending the shifter shortly and didn't charge my any extra for shipping . I'm in Canada so it gets quite expensive. Big ups to him for that

I'm hoping that this new shifter will help since it is counter weighted and easier to reach

Here are the pics that Terry took. He put the whole event together and it was without a doubt TOP NOTCH
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7...9705/


Modified by white rocket at 3:27 PM 3/21/2006

 

Nice parts and continue enjoying lap days

 

Why does the hood pin look like it sticks up so much? Should of mounted it on fender side.

Edit: Where's the CF Center Console / Climate Control?

 

CF interior is limited to the cluster for Canadian R's. The hood pins work fine. I'm quite happy with the placement.

 

nice stuff

sounds like you had a blast.

 

good stuff man.. really like the seat... looks more comfy than my memfab.... and if you want to know how to make that arm rest look like new again pm me

 

Looks like fun, can't wait to get back to the track.

I swear Erik and I ran w/ that E30 at MO last year, well at least one the same color w/ those unique wheels.

 

you ricer!!

*just jealous and dark green with envy*

back to living vicariously through the lives of other ITR owners....grRrrrrr

Look foward to meeting up with you again during the summer - perhaps even an ITR meet? I owe ya that beer!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RagingAngel &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Look foward to meeting up with you again during the summer - perhaps even an ITR meet?</TD></TR></TABLE>

You gonna be around? That's awesome. We usually have our meet in early August so that would be great if you were in town. I'm always around too. I plan on hitting the track a few more times before summertime to get as much experience and instructor time as possible.

 

yeah that was so much fun. i'm going to get back there as soon as possible.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Alexander &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sweet, but that's a 360 not an F430 </TD></TR></TABLE>

stradale too

 

Still waiting on that parts write up.